I am a shaper, a scribbler, a dabbler, a dribbler, and most definitely not a diddler.
Thanks for exploring my ART. ~Dayna
Shadow Eater: A Recollection
IS OUT NOW on Amazon: HERE
This poetry collection features works of youthful innocence, sexual awakening, familial and personal conflicts, transition to domestic life, and recovery on all levels through art and imagination.
Right as Rain Medicine
There’s something wholly
Unwholesome about hospitals
Especially ones for ones whose loved ones
Don’t know who they are or where they are from
Or who really wonder what is wrong with them
Only the ones that know what is wrong
Gets what is right for them.
For everyone else it’s a shot in the dark,
A shot in the arm
A shot that falls short of expectation
It gives rather than takes
It doesn’t take that much
Just a dose or two will do the trick
Will trick you into thinking the drugs are helping
Helping alleviate nothing
Helping make less pain—
Helping make you right as rain
Metaphysical Poet
She is a poet that paints black and white
And is a black and white dichotomy
Understands nearness
And distance
A gymnast flipping gerunds
Cartwheeling nouns that look like verbs
Or adjectives
Squeezing out vowels
Twirling an apostrophe
And kneading a sentence like dough
Always tidying and neatening up
Eight parts of speech in infinite combinations
Filling in the infinitesimal gaps
Between the senses of our words
For an apostrophe’s address
Of, “Oh god, come to me”
He can stretch a meaning
And a extend a mean
They’re mincers of words
Matching Salty with Sweetness
Tang with Twang
Finding nonsense in sense
Master language like a rubix cube
Each phrase in a turn
Words going uhm and hmu
And mom and wow
And dad and pap
Anagrams, ambigrams, palindromes
Extracting shades of sense
Each word a cell, building blocks stacked
That exists and doesn’t at the same time
Each poem a string of DNA stretching
To the height of me
Age of Argentum
I want to grow silver
A slice of that which is white and dark
A flash and a spark
A sliver of experience in shards
Along the glistening gray hair of age
I want to grow silver
Because no one in my family gets to that stage.
What’s in a Name?
Glory begins in the musty Kentucky bluegrass
Where the butchers are cutting down
The trees for blood
Then wrath moves to the mountains
Moving mountains
To be with the baker
And they raise their kids
With can-do attitudes
And they show them candles &
Sticks, & candles come in all sizes
And dipped and dripped and drabbed
Until they become their full shape
Just like us
Then blank canvases
Woven fabrics, fibers, a cross hatch
People paint designs on them in Harry Styles’ style
Empty pages filled with lines, mines & bars of chords
Taylor Swift writes so fast, so much,
It’s astronomical
And on the other side of the world
There’s a Masked Wolf rapping his gift
About an astronaut in the ocean
When the ocean is up
On the other side of the mirror
And the embers of burnt grass float above
In fiber optical, elliptical glasses
Showing us ourselves
Song of an Unsound Mind
You’ll never know what you got until it’s gone
Especially when it’s your mind—
You’re unkind to yourself
You put yourself down
You expose a gamut of put downs
About running about town
Without your pretty head
You want to get ahead
You want to win at the game of life
So you keep running a list of things
To be–to do–behind your eyes
That list is never-ending, never-bending,
Ever sending you haywire
Because it’s never getting done
Only YOU make the requirements
ONLY you can satisfy the overlord
The LORD over you looking down his nose
And you ARE him, so you already know
There’s a hymn in your name
A story only you can sing
And the only way to win is to SIN
And tell the tale about how you’ve broken
And now you’re a token soul
With a message
And Then She Stood
First thing I did was roll over and wonder if I was dead.
I was awake but nothing.
No blankets or clothes for a skin.
No skin stretched over a frame.
No nerves between my bones.
No marrow.
So I ghosted around the house like air below a future wanderer.
And then she stood.
first published @daynabrowndolan on Twitter
Reference to Billy Collins “First Dream”
Walking the Ware River and Wondering Where We Are
published in Shadow Eater: A Recollection shared here with permission
My uncle clips a crawdad to the back of my sister’s white t-shirt she wears over her bathing suit
To cover up the after school snacks she eats
She squeals and splashes everyone trying to get it off
Every Autumn we walk the Ware River from the edge of my grandparent’s property
I’m walking behind them in my white Keds saved from last school year for this very purpose
The water looks like rust in parts and tastes it too
My shoes are tea colored by the end of it
The water teal in parts
Water clear to the deep bottom in swirling pools, sometimes over my head
Some parts were so shallow my feet could nearly dry before the water would be knee deep
Again…then to my shoulders, then I’d be floating
There were tall grasses, reeds, and water lilies.
Schools of tiny minnows whirled around us as we passed
But a tiny lobster? That was really something
I thought they only lived in the South
I’d seen some in the Virginia ditches along the street
I used nightcrawlers tied to string to catch them in those trenches
The silt was as black as it was gray, like half-burnt charcoal
I caught up to sister and unclipped the crawfish from her shirt
Its tiny pinchers made it look like a scorpion
It flapped its tawny tail and my sister screamed
I dropped the critter and we moved along again…
More to read in the collection Shadow Eater
An emo vampire finds her way
A Halloween sleepover with Freddy, Jason, and my friends
About that time in Salem, 1692
A canary's warning
An Uncomfortable Ride
Published in Shadow Eater: A Recollection shared here with permission
A golden-haired toddler in a stained striped shirt
Boosted in a tan cavalier with tawny seats
Watches out the half-up front window
The wind whistles against the car trim and his locks whip around his eyes
He can hear the radio emitting a tune and he hums along and kicks his feet
The yellow fast food wrappers dance around on the backseat floor
As he flings his little legs his dingy white sock slips down into his light-up sneakers,
And the more he bounces and wriggles the further it wrinkles and bunches in his shoe.
And he’s telling her his foot is silly. Then his shoe, weird. His ankle, breezy, he says to her.
His little voice increasing in the smoky air of the car, but the wind muffles the sound,
Or she ignores him.
More to read in Shadow Eater: A Recollection
Groupie Love Child
Love is…
a Sharpie
signature of a
band
member on the
breast of a
fan on
whip ‘em out
Wednesday
And letting him
come first,
enjoying
the sound,
the rhythm of it
Love is the last piece of
bacon sealed in a plastic bag for after they get
home from work // And hiding plastic baggies
of powder in the night stand // Crying into the pillow
at night after too many fights over too many worries
Locking up the knives when your depressed
plus one can’t be trusted near them
Then dialing the police when their
mind exits their body
for good ( and ) Smacking
a child’s hand to keep them
from the electrical sockets // Leaving pennies
under a pillow collecting tiny teeth, storing
them in a baby food jar in the kitchen cabinet
behind the bottles of booze // Not accepting
the charges for a collect phone call at three in
the morning as your child comes out of their room
bleary eyed and asks, Is everything okay?
Over the raucous guitar solo that leaks out
of the speaker of his daddy’s
\number one fan/
![Semi-colon symbol
Mental Health Awareness](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/621d2942060ad60dd4563647/e9d59caa-e08c-4a49-b0f0-c0ee6e02c726/Still+talking+sun.jpg)
Semi-colon symbol Mental Health Awareness
![Pride Rock](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/621d2942060ad60dd4563647/ef5a85c0-d0ac-4be1-bff7-327a8d942f7c/0.jpg)
Pride Rock
![Unity in Action
Acrylic on 5X7 Canvas board](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/621d2942060ad60dd4563647/4710a82a-afd1-4637-b75a-40fc552bb67a/IMG-7490.jpg)
Unity in Action Acrylic on 5X7 Canvas board
![Multimedia: wood, clay, acrylics
with magnet](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/621d2942060ad60dd4563647/1646591564042-2H00XF8NL8Q8OFWDTGAE/IMG-7484.jpg)
Multimedia: wood, clay, acrylics with magnet
![Untitled
Watercolor on 140 lb paper](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/621d2942060ad60dd4563647/9805d6bf-3474-4119-ac21-466d549d44ee/IMG-7397.jpg)
Untitled Watercolor on 140 lb paper
![2022 Vision Board
(images not my own)](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/621d2942060ad60dd4563647/1646592465860-JX67J7DR59TY2ZAAACJQ/IMG-7386.jpg)
2022 Vision Board (images not my own)
![Paint Night Art
(images not my own)](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/621d2942060ad60dd4563647/7f830d5a-7bad-4ad6-9200-f1dead8557f7/0.jpg)
Paint Night Art (images not my own)
![Maddy 22
Acrylic on paper](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/621d2942060ad60dd4563647/1646593361461-TFFFPXPP8Z1WIFPRVWXS/IMG-6479.jpg)
Maddy 22 Acrylic on paper
![Acrylic on 3 in. ceramic disc](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/621d2942060ad60dd4563647/340fa1ce-81bd-4e3a-b3a5-19c0da7a1a70/66679614670--92AB2353-98E6-45D1-A5B7-54BD93DDACA2.jpg)
Acrylic on 3 in. ceramic disc
![Acrylic on 3 in ceramic disc](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/621d2942060ad60dd4563647/3b831708-858e-49b8-a449-31f3ce1fb3ab/IMG_7266%281%29.jpg)
Acrylic on 3 in ceramic disc
![Acrylic on ceramic disc
Made for a friend](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/621d2942060ad60dd4563647/38c8c455-6afc-4875-90c9-8d0ee37a9f92/0.jpg)
Acrylic on ceramic disc Made for a friend
![Acrylic pour on 3 in. ceramic disc](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/621d2942060ad60dd4563647/b13ac521-9a0e-4b91-b2e6-6f571e1b52a5/IMG-7402.jpg)
Acrylic pour on 3 in. ceramic disc
GDP watercolor on canvas
![GDP plant](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/621d2942060ad60dd4563647/f47a9c12-bb54-416d-99e8-f4237c283a2b/IMG-7491.jpg)
GDP plant
![63382356653__DA5C7CE5-F7F3-4F39-BC72-ADD796E469D8.jpg](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/621d2942060ad60dd4563647/f30824d7-b2ea-4326-87b6-6e56c480f916/63382356653__DA5C7CE5-F7F3-4F39-BC72-ADD796E469D8.jpg)
Acrylic on clay (plastic bottle)
![Sculpty with acrylic on glass jar](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/621d2942060ad60dd4563647/4622cfb9-5877-46db-a9d6-a25df175a920/IMG-7469.jpg)
Sculpty with acrylic on glass jar
![IMG_8186.jpg](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/621d2942060ad60dd4563647/d4341bd4-5d6f-4806-aa20-fdd770325df6/IMG_8186.jpg)
![Still talking cloud.jpg](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/621d2942060ad60dd4563647/5b4ce6b9-6b32-4d1c-a467-18dc9d4a4054/Still+talking+cloud.jpg)
![Watercolor on 140 lb paper](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/621d2942060ad60dd4563647/a9d2079a-0a7d-49fd-91fc-17602d6d4426/IMG_7398.jpg)
Watercolor on 140 lb paper
Anniversary Gift F&G
![Floss Embroidering (original image not my own)](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/621d2942060ad60dd4563647/9af6db39-728e-4bd1-8b53-7eabd48d9c22/64147113720--3AF9F58A-81AB-4D70-9AD2-72BBC0EF4133.jpg)
Floss Embroidering (original image not my own)
![Wonder
floss on linen, freehand](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/621d2942060ad60dd4563647/1646593676290-4KHCGFEYPWZ8GE1A4C6G/0.jpg)
Wonder floss on linen, freehand
![Van Gogh Embroidery
WIP](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/621d2942060ad60dd4563647/7d3c6819-9b86-4ebc-9f4f-2a2ff6d7fedf/0.jpg)
Van Gogh Embroidery WIP
![Rasta Loving](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/621d2942060ad60dd4563647/31b28b00-ee63-43fc-a0f3-84adbd7c9b35/0.jpg)
Rasta Loving
![Summer Dayz](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/621d2942060ad60dd4563647/ff55d718-e7fc-4228-9a2c-16304b28ccc8/0.jpg)
Summer Dayz
![Flower photo 2021](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/621d2942060ad60dd4563647/fcb49beb-2af6-435d-a368-e02c90d656f9/IMG_5667.jpg)
Flower photo 2021
![Poetry collection and photos](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/621d2942060ad60dd4563647/688c7648-e7e5-4f70-b5be-64b1fa3c58ab/IMG_8154.jpg)
Poetry collection and photos
![Wave Art- glass beads](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/621d2942060ad60dd4563647/1662212522723-9H3WDWYEGSEHQHGK6SIA/IMG_5363.jpg)
Wave Art- glass beads
![Wave Art glass beads](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/621d2942060ad60dd4563647/1662212566150-GH86EWZW14DNMBXGPWOH/IMG_5364.jpg)
Wave Art glass beads
I share this poem today for the last day of Mental Health Awareness Month. The awareness month may end, but my struggles won’t.
Part of my mental health issues include the fluidity of my thoughts. Some times they are slow enough for me to understand and at other times they come in flashes—vivid and clear—and still other times they come in floods—fast and overwhelming.
More to come on this event…
Ageless Games
Lush grasses spreading before me
Like the wall towering above
Shadows falling at my feet, in my home
Clay, reddening and unforgiving in my slide
Enemies at each corner and everywhere
A white line friendly or keeping me still
My foe on the mound
Closer than the conspirators ninety feet away.
Reaching Boys
A Poem for Teacher Appreciation Week DBD
Every science teacher blushes when
He misspeaks “organism”
While reading aloud the chapter on biology.
Half the children know the word
And their eyes dart back and forth knowingly
Between him and the ones who are knowing.
And the others wonder what’s so funny
And raise their small, stubby hands.
A student tells me he’s a better title-er
Than a hooker, and peers snicker and chuckle.
I introduce the role of the hyphen for the twenty-first time.
And I praise them for listening so well.
I tell them about when I said
Something loudly and sternly
To a group of adolescent boys
Clustered and whispering in the corner.
It echoed in the then quiet room.
We share a lesson on eggcorns
A combination of the words
joking and goofing off
That incited raucous giggling.
Some teens float words around
Trying to determine the blend
That could produce laughter I described.
A larger boy throws his head back in a raspy laugh
His friends laugh too.
The math teacher inks homework
With the letters wtf over and over
During her unit on functions
And the pupils are too intimidated
To ask what it means.
She tells me it meant “write the function”
I know it has at least one other meaning.
DBD repost 5/4/22
The Silverfish
If an idea comes to you
And you fail to appreciate it
It will leave you and reside
With someone who will foster and encourage it
Make it exist
In its full, richest, surest texture.
You’ve probably experienced this
At one time or another
When the thought
Of a killer story or a poem of intrigue
Comes to you in the shower
And later when you’re recalling that vapor
The vision slips by like a silverfish
On the bathroom sink and climbs
On the bookshelf
Into the book of another
Or in the work in progress
Of someone else. ~ DBD
My Mechanic
Guy in dirty jeans
In the car with steel wrenches
Twisting me away
![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/621d2942060ad60dd4563647/1651694891645-ONRN6X5Q7BFCU4FY7U79/unsplash-image-gkUZqaVt0sU.jpg)
Snake Charmer
It’s just that Zora was there wearing her dusty mauve hat
Telling everyone that she knew a snake charmer
In the chalky clouds wafting up from each open mouth
Smoke ringed the patrons softening their edges and blemishes
The liquids lubricate the talkers and they say the snake charmer
Would later kill her spouse for his infidelities and infirmities
And Zora nods that indeed she did. ~DBD 4/14/2022
Growing Up Green
Marbly dark green and brown seed with a crusty ridge
Two vibrant green ovals rise out of moist nutrient-rich chocolatey soil
A neon green fern peeks out of an unfurled stem reaching for constant light
Those cotyledon leaves give way to three fan leaves, then five,
Rounding out at seven ridged blades stretching outwards
Light adjusted to a sixteen hour days and half that night
Darkness stunting height and giving girth to an ever widening stem
Wind enforces flexibility and builds fibers from root to crown
A chartreuse-colored sea anemone-likeness appears ever reaching
To thin the plant and direct energy branches are sacrificed
A slimy concoction of hormones on twig ’s angled end
And rooted in dampened wool for copies of its mother
Bubbles rise on the leaves like calluses, blisters filled with fluid
The light glistens and reflects off the glass-like shell
They turn milky white, a crystal ball on deep green mats
The blown-glassy bulb turn taupe then a deep amber
These mushroom-shaped structures cling to each leaf
And house the medicine for its partaker DBD 4/20/2022